All the convenience stores are selling fat sushi rolls, roll-cakes, and roasted soy beans for setsubun. Some even have people hawking them out front, reminding people that today is the big day.
Last night, the yakitori place we always go after rock climbing was giving away these bags of the beans to pelt away bad luck at home.
I explained setsubun last year. You know. Sort of.
I feel less bad about feeling like I don't entirely get it after talking to a few Japanese friends tonight - they all seemed to know different bits and pieces about what it was all about.
One thought it was yesterday.
One said that the person who plays the role of the oni should be a toshi-otoko - a man born in the same year as the current Chinese zodiac sign, currently the dragon in Japan. No one else recalled having heard this before.
Another guy said he ate the lucky sushi roll at his desk. He knew the whole drill, so he used the compass on his iPhone to make sure he was facing the right direction. But was he careful to make sure nobody was watching, two others wanted to know. What? Make sure nobody was watching? He didn't know about that one.
Finally, a woman said she sits the whole thing out because she heard that the holiday was invented by the nori seaweed manufacturers. She was fuzzy on the details, but said that the annual fresh nori crop is ready in March or April, so Osaka nori makers invented the "custom" of eating giant rolls of the stuff at the beginning of spring just to get rid of their old stock.
Take that, Hallmark.
Bonus: Last year's bizarre Setsubun news break.
3 comments:
Oh, well that clears it right up! Thanks.
awesome! i'm a little glad the japanese are sometimes just as confused about things that happen in their culture as i am.
This is exactly what happens when you ask a group of Jews about Purim.
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